Buddy
Killen has a long music business career that covers both the creative and
business aspects. His name is connected with hits by
Elvis Presley, Joe Tex, and
Roger Miller, among many others. Killen
began playing bass for a comedy group that appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. After
the group broke up, he became a staff bassist with the Opry while playing on
recording sessions and singing on music publishing demos. In 1953, Killen came
to the attention of Tree Publishing founder Jack Stapp who asked him to produce
some songs on a young girl singer. Happy with the results, Stapp gave Killen a
job with the then up-and-coming Tree that paid 35 dollars a week. The music
publishing company didn't have offices back then, so Killen worked out of his
home, doing business at the familiar hangouts of the myriad songwriters,
publishers, bookers, and others involved in the vibrant country music industry.
Tree's first office was a small one-room office Killen shared with a friend; the
next was in the Old Hill building at the corner of 7th and Church, between the
offices of radio station WSM on 7th and the Ryman Auditorium on 5th.
Killen was a songplugger — he'd try to interest recording artists in covering
songs from the Tree catalog. His first success came the next year in 1954 when
"By the Law of My Heart" was recorded by Mercury Records bluegrass singer Benny
Martin. The first big break for Tree came in January 1956 when a young singer
just signed to RCA came to Nashville to record four songs at Methodist
Publishing Studios. At this session, produced by
Chet Atkins,
Elvis Presley recorded "Heartbreak
Hotel," a song written by writer Mae Boren Axton and published by Tree. During
spring 1956, "Heartbreak Hotel" went platinum, was a hit on country and
Billboard's R&B (number three) and pop (number one for eight weeks) music charts.
The success of this song allowed Tree to move into new offices in the Cumberland
Lodge Building in downtown Nashville.
In 1957, Stapp's friend and fellow owner of Tree, Lou Cowan, had been named head
of CBS Television and had to divest his outside interests. Stapp bought Tree
from Cowan and another partner Harry Fleishman. Stapp gave Killen 30 percent of
the company and made him vice president. That same year, Killen was playing
pinball at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge when he met a young man and his wife. He
claimed to be a songwriter but was broke so Killen lent him 5 dollars and told
him to come by the office and play some of his songs.
Roger Miller's songs were soon hits for
a number of top acts: "Invitation to the Blues" for
Ray Price, "Home" and "Billy Bayou" for
Jim Reeves, and "When Two Worlds Collide"
for Bill Anderson. In March 1964,
Roger Miller went into the studio to
record his wacky, off-the-wall songs for Smash Records. His first single "Dang
Me" was a number one country hit and peaked at number seven on the pop charts in
summer 1964. The follow-up "Chug-A-Lug" went to number one country and number
nine pop in fall 1964.
Another Tree staff writer Curly Putman
wrote the classic "Green Green Grass of Home," a number four country hit for
Porter Wagoner in 1965. The song was a
1966 number 11 pop hit for Tom Jones.
Putman would write other great hits: "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" for
Tammy Wynette; "My Elusive Dreams" for
Marty Robbins, Bobby Vinton,
Charlie Rich,
Roger Miller, and
George Jones; and "I Wish That I
Could Hurt That Way Again" (Cook/Putnam) for
T. Graham Brown.
1964 is the year Tree moved out of the Cumberland Lodge Building and onto Music
Row. "Music Row" was the name given to the area on 16th and 17th Avenues between
Division Street and Edgehill where Owen
Bradley had set up a studio in his Quonset Hut in 1955. Tree purchased a
building at 905 16th Avenue South, about a block from
Bradley's studio.
While honeymooning in Daytona Beach, Killen received a call from his assistant
Jerry Crutchfield, who excitedly explained that he'd met this great singer named
Joe Tex. When he returned to Nashville, Killen met Tex and could see that he was
a phenomenal talent. When record labels passed on Tex, Killen formed Dial
Records, a subsidiary of Tree Publishing and began recording the singer. After a
few unsuccessful singles, Tex wanted out of the deal, but Killen convinced him
to let him produce one more session. One of the results of that session was a
song called "Hold What You've Got." Killen re-edited the track and Dial got a
distribution deal with Atlantic Records. "Hold What You've Got" went to number
two R&B, number five pop in early 1965. It was quickly followed up by the
double-sided hit "You Got What It Takes" (number ten R&B) b/w "You Better Get
It" (number 15 R&B). Tex went on to have 33 R&B charting singles, 28 pop
charting singles, including three number one R&B hits. Killen produced all Tex's
self-written hits. The gleeful, energetic singer who was born Joseph Arrington,
Jr. in Rogers, TX, on August 8, 1933, died of a heart attack on August 13, 1982.
Not only did Killen miss his great talent, but also his friendship.
In 1968, Tree became an international company when it opened 13 overseas
offices. This move was pioneered by Jack Stapp and Tree's New York attorney Lee
Eastman who set up business relationships outside the United States to help Tree
get exposure throughout the world with its songs.
Tree's next major growth occurred when it purchased the Pamper Music Publishing
Company, which included songs by writers like
Willie Nelson,
Hank Cochran, and
Harlan Howard. They had penned such
standards like "Crazy," "Hello Walls," "Make the World Go Away," "Pick Me Up on
Your Way Down," and "Funny How Time Slips Away." With this purchase, for 1.6
million dollars, the country catalog doubled in size and overnight Tree became
the largest music publisher in Nashville and the largest country music publisher
in the world.
Tree's next physical move occurred in 1972 when they acquired the Lucky Moeller
Talent Agency at 8 Music Square West. Also in 1972, Tree was named country
music's number one publishing company for the first time.
After 1974, Jack Stapp became Tree's Chief Executive Officer and Board Chairman,
while Killen became president retaining responsible for the creative activities
of the company. Stapp died on December 20, 1980, at the age of 67. At this
point, Buddy Killen exercised a buy/sell agreement he and Stapp had made earlier
and purchased the company and assumed sole ownership. Throughout the 1970s and
'80s, Tree acquired a number of publishing companies, including those of
Conway Twitty, Jim Ed Norman, and the
Blue Book catalog owned by Buck Owens,
which contained many of the songs from the Bakersfield group including
Merle Haggard,
Jim Reeves,
Nat Stuckey, and
Jerry Chesnut, in all over 50
catalogs. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame awarded Killen the Lifework Award for
Non-Performing Achievement in 1985.
In 1989, a new chapter in the history of Tree began when Sony/CBS purchased the
publishing company from Buddy Killen for 30 million dollars. After the sale of
Tree to Sony/CBS, Buddy Killen remained head of the company but by the end of
the year had stepped down to pursue other interests.
During fall 1999, Killen released his own CD, Mixed Emotions, and his
autobiography, By the Seat of My Pants, co-written with Tom Carter and published
by Simon and Schuster.

MIXED EMOTIONS - Mack The Knife / New
York, New York / Forever / My Way / I Believe / Don't Let Go (with
Ronnie McDOWELL &
Bobby GOLDSBORO) / As Time Goes
By / How Far Our Love Goes / I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry / We Love Each
Other (with Tabitha FAIR) / I May Never Get To Heaven / When I've Learned
Enough